Rachel Feferman, 55, a former resident of Palo Alto, died 14 after a long, struggle with breast cancer. She grew up in Palo Alto and Stanford and lived in San Francisco and Seattle before settling in Port Townsend, Wash. She attended Stanford Elementary School, Terman Middle School and Gunn High School. She did her university studies at the San Francisco Art Institute and Lone Mountain College, and graduate work at the University of Washington. She also worked as a cook at Castilleja School and the Djerassi Foundation.

An intrepid experimenter in many forms of art, she had numerous solo shows in Palo Alto and Seattle and other venues. She was a major award winner at the 1989 Northwest Annual held in the Seattle Center on Contemporary Art. In 2009, her book "Golden Hands: Drawings and Reflections" was published. Loved ones recall her as a gifted artist, writer and teacher.

She is survived by her parents, Anita and Solomon Feferman of Stanford,; her sister Julie Feferman-Perez and two nieces.